Question for Outlet fans...

If I can get the same/similar specs in another brand for about the same price.. shouldn't I go with the brand new rather than refurbished?

Accidental damage warranty - Yay or Nay? I'm not rough with laptops but am still pissed off that my Acer was of such cheap quality the USB ports broke and made the thing useless to me. They wouldn't replace it because it was "user" damage. It never happened to me with any of my Dell products which is why I'm leaning towards them. But man the same specs in another brand and "brand new" is more appealing.

 

Totally depends on what you are going for. Can you give us some references here?

Also do wait for coupons for outlet items... there are often 10-30% coupons every tuesday or other tuesday.

As for the warranty service, dell has great service. You get the same warranty on refurbished as if it were new.

 

Nothing major. I'm not a gamer although I love the look of the Geforce cards but I don't want to pay 600+ for something I don't need. I know a guy with a brand new Acer with integrated graphics and I thought it looked dull.

Must haves:
15 Inch screen.
Min 4gb RAM
500gb HD
Full Keyboard/Numeric pad on right.
Webcam

This Asus is $549. So is a few Toshibas with almost the same specs.
ASUS K55A-WH51 Notebook Intel Core i5 3210M(2.50GHz) 15.6" 6GB Memory 750GB HDD 5400rpm DVD±R/RW Intel HD Graphics 4000


There are none now to copy and paste but I've seen the Inspiron 15R 5110s in the Outlet go down to $400'ish with the coupons. The only major difference seems to be Processor: Intel Core 3rd Generation i5-3210M Processor (2.5GHz, 3M cache), Intel HD 3000 and slightly less RAM.

Ugh, I don't know why it's so hard to decide. I thought I knew which one I wanted a week ago.

 

It is all about the warranty and the design. You have to decide which one you prefer. Price wise, PCs are very similar with deals you can find.

 

Personal Opinion, I would get the accidental warranty if you can afford adding it to the cost.

I had my Studio notebook for 2 years without one issue, not even a broken key. Near the end of my use it took a bad fall that deemed it "Knocked Out" and now I'm getting a new xps. I even renewed my warranty for 3 more years after that.

that being said, I would also opt for a better built model, not a fan of inspiron models for build quality from what I have seen. Not to talk you out of it or talk down about it, but if you want reliable I would add a warranty just in case.

also - I am new here so maybe someone else's eCred is better than mine, but it's all just an opinion. You pick what you enjoy more.

 

I agree with the new guy, lol (no offense).

The XPS models are really nice and the current ones are really really really well built (macbook like). The inspirons have come a long way, but they are not the same level of quality and attention to detail. If you hunt the outlet, you can get an xps 15 for a great price... Even has 1080p. The special edition inspirons are decent and more along your price. As for the inspiron 15, you can easily get one for your price range there...

Computers are kinda like cars... Kinda... Most of the parts are going to be about the same, its just about they way they put them together. If you are going for rock bottom prices, you are not going to get a great build quality.

 

Like I said.. design and warranty, price and parts being equal.

 

Dell Outlet machines can either be new or refurbished and will indicate such when you do the check prices option. I am very pleased with my VOstro 3450 from the depot new.......it was about $300 less than the 3460 (same basic machine but with ivy bridge and nvidia 630).

stuffed in a 750GB HDD, Intel Cintrino 6235, and BD-Rom burner plus another 4GB of ram and was still less than the 3460 new by $50

 

The great thing is that they all come with the same warranty as if they were purchased new, whether they're classified as "Dell Outlet NEW", "Certified Refurbished" or "Scratch & Dent". I've been buying the Latitude D630/830 and Latitude E64xx/E65xx from the Outlet for years because they come with a full 3-year warranty, the same as one configured-to-order on the regular Dell site.

I'm still using a Latitude E6400 that I bought NEW from the Outlet four years ago last month! I paid $630 for it at the time, so I'd say I certainly got my money's worth out of it!

 

I would pass on the accidental coverage or extended warranty in general...

Thru the outlet you get a 1 year warranty and I make sure to get any problems addressed right away with Dell Tech Support/Customer Service. When you get close to your warranty expiration, you can re-up the warranty for about the same cost (varies) but for $500 (or less) laptop why bother. Instead I would use that $100 warranty money towards a new laptop.

Also, you get a 3yr warranty on the Dell Latitude series (even thru the Outlet). You shop the "Dell Small Business" outlet site. Generally speaking I don't like those laptops however.